How Long Do Sugar Withdrawal Symptoms Last?

Eating too much sugar can lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. So in the long term, reducing sugar in your diet may encourage weight loss, improve dental health, and reduce your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the short term, giving up sugar often results in temporary sugar withdrawal symptoms.

Common symptoms of sugar withdrawal include cravings and fatigue, but in some cases, people experience irritability, depressed mood, and other unwanted symptoms. For people on very low-sugar diets, such as the ketogenic diet, sugar withdrawal can feel so severe and unpleasant that it is referred to as the "keto flu."

If you are trying to cut back on sugar in your diet, it can be helpful to understand what kinds of symptoms you might experience and how long they will last. Let's explore some of these symptoms, the sugar withdrawal timeline, why giving up sugar is so hard, and what you can do to feel better until sugar withdrawal symptoms fade.

Sugar Withdrawal Symptoms

Reducing sugar in your diet can result in a number of symptoms, both physical and mental. The nature and severity of these symptoms vary from one person to the next. They may last for a few days or a few weeks. If you cut added sugars from your diet, you may experience:

• Anxiety
  
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Depressed mood
• Difficulty concentrating
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Fatigue
• Intense cravings for something sweet
• Intense cravings for other carbohydrates, like chips or pasta
• Irritability
• Nausea
  

These symptoms can be unpleasant, and cravings can sometimes lead to binge-eating behaviors. After a period of sugar withdrawal, some people give in to a craving and end up consuming more sugar than they normally would.

Binge-eating is part of a vicious cycle of sugar dependence and withdrawal. After a binge, people often feel guilty, depressed, and angry. To make themselves feel better, they eat more sugar to get endorphins flowing again. Endorphins make you feel better while you are eating, but they don’t stick around for long.

Effects of Sugar

In order to understand why sugar withdrawal symptoms can be so bothersome and intense, it can be helpful to understand why they happen and how sugar affects the body.

Evolutionary Basis of Sugar Withdrawal

Believe it or not, there is an evolutionary basis for your ice cream cravings. Our early ancestors were biologically driven to seek out high-calorie foods, such as fruit and honey. Consuming sugars helped them build up body fat, which was essential for surviving periods of scarcity. The brain rewarded this survival instinct by releasing feel-good neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters are the brain’s chemical messengers. There are billions of these molecules at work all the time, sending messages throughout your nervous system that allow you to think, move, and breathe. They also affect mood.

How Sugar Affects the Brain

Addictive drugs like heroin and cocaine produce a high because they either masquerade as neurotransmitters or prompt the nervous system to release a flood of them. These kinds of changes in brain chemistry lead to dependence, withdrawal, and addiction.

In animal studies, researchers have found that sugar withdrawal mirrors withdrawal from other drugs, like cocaine and heroin. But animals seem to be more prone to "sugar addiction" than we are. In one study, when given a choice between cocaine and sugar, cocaine-addicted rats primarily chose the sugar.

Sugar is a tricky thing. There are sugars in many of the healthy foods you eat, including fruit, bread, and dairy products. When we talk about sugars from a health perspective, what we are usually talking about are the refined sugar added into things like bread, candy, and soda. This includes table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and white flour. 

Whether or not you can actually become addicted to, or physically dependent upon, sugar depends largely on your definition of addiction. But it does appear that many people experience withdrawal-like symptoms when they give it up.

Keto Diet Sugar Withdrawal

If you have eliminated all sources of sugar from your diet, including the sugars that naturally occur in fruit and dairy products, then you may be experiencing the keto flu. People on a ketogenic diet consume less than 10% of their calories from carbohydrates per day—which may be less than 20 grams of carbs.

Without access to sugar or other carbohydrates, the body has no source of glucose. Glucose is like fuel for our cells, and without it, we begin to starve. The body is forced to turn to its fat stores for an alternative fuel source, which causes a condition called ketosis. Ketosis can be unpleasant. 

If you are on a ketogenic diet, your symptoms may be more severe than those caused by cutting down on added sugars. This drastic drop in carbs causes the body to enter a state of ketosis, which works differently for everyone. You may enter ketosis after cutting your carbohydrates to 50 grams per day, whereas someone else may need to cut them to 10 grams or under. It can take your body a few days to enter a state of ketosis.

It is important to talk to a healthcare provider before beginning a low-carb or ketogenic diet. These diets can be dangerous for certain people.

Because these types of sugar-free diets are so restrictive, they can lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Vitamins and minerals are essential for growing bodies. For this reason, children and teenagers should not do low-carb diets. Neither should people who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

The long-term health implications of low-carb diets have not been fully explored. Some doctors fear that restricting carbs could contribute to bone loss and several chronic diseases. To reduce the risk of heart disease, the American Heart Association recommends eating a balanced diet, rich in lean proteins, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables.

Relief for the Keto Flu

If your goal is to transition to a ketogenic diet, then you will have to give your body time to adjust.

The ketogenic diet may have health benefits, especially for some people with epilepsy and other neurological disorders. If you are starting a ketogenic diet for health reasons, you may have to suffer the uncomfortable symptoms for a little while. Think of it like an actual flu—you just have to bear it. If your symptoms don’t improve after three weeks, talk to your doctor.

If you are following a low-carb or keto diet for weight loss, consider altering your approach. A low-carb diet has many of the same health benefits as a keto diet, including weight loss. The only difference is that your body will not enter a state of ketosis.

To transition to a low-carb diet and put an end to the keto flu, all you have to do is eat some fruit. When the body has access to glucose (from sugary foods), it no longer needs to burn fat for fuel.

Coping With Sugar Withdrawal Symptoms

If you are trying to reduce your sugar intake or cut sugar out of your diet, there are some steps you can take to help cope with sugar withdrawal symptoms.

Set Specific, Practical Goals

While there may be reasons to switch to a very low-sugar diet, it is often more realistic and achievable to look for practical ways to gradually reduce your sugar intake.

For example, you might swap out sugary snacks for foods that are higher in proteins, fats, and whole grains. Or you might stop drinking high-sugar soda and other sugary beverages and replace them with water or other low-sugar drinks.

Increase Daily Fiber

Dietary fiber can help you feel fuller longer and reduce feelings of hunger. Foods that are high in fiber can also help regulate blood sugar levels, which means you'll be less likely to experience fluctuations in blood sugar that contribute to cravings.

Eat Balanced Meals

Focus on eating meals and snacks that include a good balance of protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Ensuring that you are getting a good balance can help promote feelings of fullness, help regulate blood sugar levels, and minimize cravings.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is essential for health and well-being, and research has shown that lack of sleep may contribute to cravings for certain foods, including those that are high in added sugars.

Engage in Physical Activity

Getting regular exercise can also be helpful when you are cutting back on sugar. Research has found that even short bursts of brisk exercise can help reduce sugar cravings. 

Treatment for Sugar Withdrawal Symptoms

Sugar withdrawal doesn’t really require long-term treatment, because it will pass relatively quickly. The main problem is sustaining a low-sugar diet. These restrictive diets are too much for most people, so don’t feel guilty if this eating pattern doesn't work for you.

A diet rich in lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables will help you sustain a healthy weight while giving your body the nutrients it needs to thrive. Try to avoid processed foods, as they tend to be packed with added sugars. Instead, get your sweet fix from something that contains fiber, like berries, oranges, or apples.

Resources

For tips on planning nutritious meals for the whole family, visit MyPlate.gov.

You can also check out the American Heart Association’s collection of recipes, which are specifically designed to help you change your eating habits for heart health.

If you are worried that you may be struggling with food or a binge eating disorder, consider peer-to-peer support groups in your area, such as Food Addicts Anonymous or Overeaters Anonymous.

A Word From Verywell

Reducing your sugar intake is an admirable goal. Just remember that the best diets are not really diets at all, but changes in eating behaviors. Old habits are hard to break, especially when you try to quit cold-turkey. Instead, start with small changes.

Try to feel proud of the small steps you’re taking rather than guilty about the changes yet to be made. Each small step will build upon the last, taking you into a healthier tomorrow.